Universal Audio (UA) on Thursday announced it is shipping the OX Amp Top Box, an advanced reactive load box and guitar recording system.

OX allows guitarist to plug their existing tube amp to the hardware unit, bypassing the traditional cabinet altogether. Instead, you can choose a cabinet, mic and room from the OX to play your amp through.

The hardware unit can be configured using an iPad app or the Mac app, so you can use it almost anywhere, from gigging to your home studio.

UA said OX uses its Dynamic Room Modeling and Dynamic Speaker Modeling and is “the first amp recording system to accurately emulate speaker breakup and cone cry.”

In addition to allowing guitarists to play and record using a variety of cabinet, mic, and room models, OX also acts as a power soak or attenuator. This means that you can turn your tube amp all the up, but still control the output volume through the OX. You can listen at full volume, or you can turn it all the way down to a whisper.

Even at lower volumes, OX allows you to hear the amp characteristics as if you were playing at full volume.

I have played around with a lot of attenuators and IR amps, but I haven’t heard anything sound like this before. This is a very significant release for guitar players, from one of the companies I respect the most in the music industry.